Brain drain – how many are leaving BC thanks to arts cuts?

We are currently tracking the number of artists and arts professionals leaving BC for Ontario and beyond thanks to the hostile climate for arts in BC. We want to know how many are leaving as a result of the BC Liberals’ current cultural policies, including but not limited to: cutting gaming funds to arts organizations, cutting regular tax funding for the BC Arts Council, refusing to match Ontario’s tax credits to benefit the BC film industry, and cancelling the touring subsidies for BC musicians. Since most other provinces have increased rather than decreased these programs, we are extremely confused by this wholesale destruction of arts and culture infrastructure in this province. If you are leaving, or know others who are, please contact us. Arts professionals need to pay their bills and can’t wait around until Budget Day, March 2 to see if the BC government is going to reverse its position and start giving the cultural sector the same support it gives other sectors. Arts professionals want to work in a vibrant arts industry, not in a hostile arts climate. It’s clear that the brain drain has already begun and some of BC’s most innovative and highly-trained workers in film, music and the arts have already been lost to other regions, which is a terrible net loss for BC. Please help us compile an accurate list. Information will be kept confidential if you so desire – we just need numbers.

Who are we?

This blog is an extension of the website Stop BC Arts Cuts. We are a loose affiliation of arts supporters, artists, curators and arts workers in British Columbia who are fighting to overturn the abrupt, severe, unwarranted, and socially and economically unwise cuts to BC public arts funding. Even before these cuts, BC's arts funding was already well below that of all other provinces of Canada: the national average for provincial arts funding is $26 per capita; BC is now at approximately $6.50 per capita, even after the recent $7m restoration of funds. Ultimately the cuts still stand at approx 50%, amounting to a giant blow for the BC sector and one that will make us uncompetitive. Many organizations are already closing their doors. Meanwhile, every other industrial sector in BC receives substantial subsidies - why make an example of art? Arts funding is not only a crucial component of a homegrown culture industry in a relatively remote region with a small population (and relatively small corporate activity). It's also a lucrative investment that has been proven to fatten, rather than impoverish, the BC tax base (see here), by bringing large returns on every dollar given. Let's not find ourselves with a BC culture consisting of nothing but American TV. Check back regularly to read news about this issue, and to keep informed about our efforts to campaign for the return of these funds, which are: a) promised BC Gaming monies, and b) regular tax base funding for the BC Arts Council. Thank you for reading. To contact us, click here.